High Interest
by HIxYOUxARExREADINGxTHIS
Summary: Shikamaru just can't seem to figure this one out. He knows he likes her, but why? There's a festival tonight, and she's going to be there. Maybe this is his big night...


I was listening to the songs "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever" by Rick Astley and felt the need to write a romance one-shot. I highly recomend looking him up on youtube. He's great. How long this story turns out is beyond me. Hope you enjoy whatever randomness gets typed here. I don't even know what I'm writing yet.

No ownage.

"talking"

_thinking_

_**flashback**_

Enjoy!

_**High Interest**_

_"...I would move Heaven and Earth to be together forever with you."_

_"Together Forever" by Rick Astley_

It wasn't her spiky, golden hair, her deep-sea blue eyes, or even her hourglass figure that made him like her, and it definately wasn't her attitude. She was bull-headed, touchy and charging at anything or person that got on her nerves. She was a moron at best to him. So why did he like her? That was the question that he had been mulling over in his mind for over an hour by now, and he was dumb-struck. This seemed to be the one thing that he couldn't figure out. Or maybe he was just going at it the wrong way. He always thought like a strategist, which wasn't exactly the way to go at this.

Shikamaru was kicking back on his bed; his head resting on top of his crossed arms at the foot of his bed, and his legs crossed with his feet lying on the pillow that his head should be on. To some people, this would probably seem weird, but to Shikamaru it was a perfectly normal thinking position.

_It's probably about 8:30 in the morning right now...'bout time for mom to be calling me down for breakfast..._

Shikamaru thought this, not bothering to go downstairs for breakfast until his mom grew inpatient and called him down. He didn't want to get up unless he had to, even though his stomach had been growling for a while now, and as if on cue, his mom called him down for breakfast in her usual annoyed tone.

He sighed, sluggishly got up from bed, and dragged his feet to the door in just his boxers and a pair of socks; his hair wild and sticking out everywhere instead of being in its usual high ponytail. He knew his mom would nag at him for not getting dressed, which she did every morning, but he didn't feel like doing it. The more he was pressured to do things, the less he felt like actually doing them; this being one of those things. He tried to look like he'd just woken up and hadn't been up for a while - he'd been up since 7:00 in the morning, actually; more than an hour ago - but he knew she would notice.

"I'm going for a walk mom!" Shikamaru shouted from the front door that he was already walking out without bothering to make sure that she had heard him. He did this everyday at about noon, as is now. It shouldn't surprise her by now, but she always griped at him for it later. _Man, is my life in a rut..._

There was a festival tonight, celebrating the new pact between the Leaf and the Sand, and despite the fact that Shikamaru didn't like going to these, he was seriously considering going just to get out of the same boring, old rut of life._ I bet she'll be there..._He was thinking about the girl that he liked.

He walked along the same old streets of the Leaf Village. He knew every one of them from taking these walks everyday, and knew which streets had what, how to get to them, and which streets were the most busy at what times. This came from much paying attention and recording things in his head for later. Just practices for when he really needed to be able to do these things on missions and the like. He walked up to one of the stands, getting a blueberry popsicle and paying the kindly old woman at the stand with the spare change that he usually carried. Just in case.

He kept on going, up near the old bridge near the bath house, where he leaned over the railing, sucking on his popsicle - his teeth were to sensitive to temperature, therefore, he could not bite it - and stared down at the reflections in the water. People passed by on the bridge; some talking about the upcoming festival, some about other random things. Clouds rolled on in the sky, swirly and white. How monotonous.

_Her being there sure would be interesting..._He thought, referring to the upcoming festival and the girl.

He finished the rest of his popsicle, walked back in the direction that he had gone - throwing his cleaned-off popsicle stick into the nearest trash can - and walked home.

His mom griped at him, of course.

It was about 4:00 in the afternoon, now, and here was Shikamaru hanging around with Chouji in the same spot they had met when they had first met, just a little while after they had joined the acadamy.

_**"Hey, don't mean to be rude, but your kinda' in my spot." Shikamaru said blandly with a mild smile on his face.**_

_**"Huh?" Chouji sat up. "What's that?" Chouji replied, turning to Shikamaru.**_

_**"I like to come up here to look at the clouds everyday. I don't usually see other people here." His smile grew.**_

_**"Oh, sorry." Chouji said sheepishly, putting an arm up behind his head and grinning.**_

_**"It's fine. Mind scootin' over?"**_

_**"Sure!"**_

Shikamaru chuckled at the thought.

"What's so funny?"

"Ah, nothin'." Shikamaru said, brushing off the thought.

"Eh, whatever." Chouji no longer bothered trying to get Shikamaru to tell him about things that he didn't want to talk about. It was pointless. He never got anything out of him. Shikamaru was not an open book. "By the way, about that festival tonight..." Chouji trailed off.

"What about it?" Shikamaru turned his head from the clouds and at his friend lying next to him.

"You wanna' go? It might be interesting. Things sure are boring lately. Not even any missions at the moment. Not for genin like us, anyway."

Shikamaru smirked, turning his head back toward the clouds. The air was still and the clouds were motionless. "I was thinking that same thing. There was actually someone I was interested in meeting up with there..."

"Yeah, me too--er, wait!" Chouji shot up, staring at Shikamaru curiously.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Chouji grinned a cheeky grin. "Is it a girl? 'Cause that would be _sooo _unusual for _you_, Shikamaru." He snickered.

Shikamaru raised his other eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Chouji looked at him as if it were obvious. "You _hate _girls!"

Shikamaru sighed. "I've told you before, Chouji, it's not that I _hate _them, it's just that all the girls I meet are morons like Ino." He shivered at the thought of what Ino would do if she had heard him say that.

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Meanwhile, Ino was at the flower shop that both her and her mother ran.

"Achoo!" _Huh. Someone must be talking about my great looks and how smart I am! _Ino rubbed her nose while fantasizing about this with gleaming eyes. The customer in front of the counter couldn't imagine why a sneeze would make her so happy...

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"Well, is it a girl?" Chouji asked curiously.

"Of course it's a girl!" Shikamaru stated, sitting up and playfully smacking Chouji in the side of the head.

"So, who is it?" He asked excitedly, seemingly oblivious to the smack on the head.

"Hmmm...come here." He signaled for Chouji to lean in closer so he could whisper in his ear. "It's..."

The wind blew and the clouds moved.

"So, you think she'll be here?"

"Yup! You know, you almost seem nervous!" Chouji said jokingly, poking Shikamaru in the side with his elbow.

Shikamaru and Chouji had stopped at the bath house to wash up, and change clothes. Both of their parents had given them "manly" kimonos to wear to the festival, and though they both wanted to look nice, kimonos were kind of over doing it. Shikamaru wore an emerald green v-necked shirt over a fishnet shirt and baggy sea-green shorts. His usual high and tight ponytail was in a low and loose ponytail and he had on a pair of black cloth and rubber sandals that looked much like his sandals that he wore on missions, but without the straps around his heels and and ankles. Chouji wore an outfit that was basically the same, save for the part with the ponytail. His clothes were a deep gray with purple swirls here and there. Chouji's hair stuck out everywhere since he wasn't wearing his headband.

Shikamaru sighed, walking out of the bathhouse with Chouji trailing behind. It was dark out now, and the stars and full-moon shone brightly. _Must be about 9:30 at night..._Shikamaru thought, shoving his hands in his pockets rather tensely. No matter what he wore, he always wore something with pockets, because putting his hands in them was just habit by now. Plus he was lazy and didn't like carrying small things, such as the spare change that he "happened" to be carrying. Just in case.

They walked to the area where the festival was being held, dodging crowds of people that passed by excitedly and little children running around and laughing their heads off. It wasn't long before Chouji spotted her and pointed her out to a rather unusually nervous Shikamaru. He was very tense by now, but he did not blush. He would do no such thing.

"Hey, Shika! Imagine seeing you here!" She called sarcastically.

He blushed.

She wore a smirk on her face, her hair that was usually up in quad-tails was brushed straight and put into a tight braid, and had on a white kimono with green flower print and a ginormous green ribbon tied around her waist. Her fan hung on her back as usual, she walked up to him and said, "Hey! We're even wearing the same colors!" She laughed, pushing him in the chest and causing him to fall backwards into Chouji, who pushed him towards Temari, with an evil grin on his face. Shikamaru managed to catch himself just inches away from falling into her chest and turned around to glare at Chouji, though he had run off as fast as he could to make sure Shikamaru wouldn't kill him.

"Weird. He just ran off all of a sudden..." She said this as though she hadn't noticed the whole "pushing incident". "We'll, ya' wanna get somethin' to eat?"

"Uh...yeah, sure..." Shikamaru answered, trying to regain his composure. That meaning, he was beat red and trying desperately to hide it until it went away, which it didn't seem to be doing.

"How 'bout ramen?" She asked. She could tell that he was blushing. It amused her greatly, but she didn't say anything.

"Nah, they'll be busy about this time..."

"How do you know?"

"Oh, they always are." He also took walks at night when he felt the need to get out of the house and away from his parents. "They're quite popular with the drunks at this hour, especially at festivals like this and stuff."

"Oh. Well, where else can we go? I haven't had much time to explore this village of yours, so I don't know what kinda' places there are."

"Uhhh..." He was acting a bit more normal now, and his blush was much lighter, so it was harder to notice it in the dark, though, there were paper lamps hung everywhere, making things somewhat bright. _Oh, I know..._ "There's this place just a few blocks down that serves rice and fish. How's that sound?"

"Sounds great! Ya' don't get much fish down in my village. No rivers and stuff 'round there, ya' know?"

"Yeah." Shikamaru was smiling sheepishly and was trying his hardest not to blush again, though, it wasn't like he could control it. His mind was running so slow at the moment that it was hard to keep up with her quick talking. They walked toward the place that Shikamaru had mentioned, passing yet more crowds and happy, smiling children before arriving at the stand. It wasn't crowded as Shikamaru had figured it wouldn't be. Fish and rice was common around here, so everyone was at the desert stands getting stuff that wasn't common. He pulled out some of the change from his pocket, already knowing how much the food would cost, having been here many times before, but Temari stopped him.

"I'll pay. My treat!" She said happily, a wide grin on her face.

He put the change back in his pocket as they ordered their food and walked off. He wasn't overly kind like most gentlemen, and figured that if she was willing to pay for the food, which didn't cost much anyway, then she could go right on ahead. He would make it up to her anyway...

They walked as they ate their food, watching performers dance, play music, sing, and perform tricks.

"Man, this is great!" Temari said happily, trying not to choke on her mouthfull of fish-on-a-stick.

"Hey, you wanna' get some popsicles or somethin'? I know this stand just a little ways away from the festival area. They shouldn't be to busy at the moment."

"Sounds good!" They finished off their food and Temari followed Shikamaru to the "pop' stand", as she called it. As they reached the stand, where things were actually quiet and not as crazy as the last place they had been, Shikamaru pulled the spare change from his pocket again.

"I'll pay. My treat." He said, throwing her words back at her. He grinned, looking her in the eyes for the first time that night. He got a large blueberry popsicle with two sticks shoved in it, the type that you can break in half and share, seeing as the old woman that had been there earlier was out of regular popsicles. She smiled at him as if to say "Good luck!" and handed him the popsicle, which he walked off with, broke in half, and gave the half that had turned out larger to Temari. She noticed this, but didn't say anything about it. Instead, she just said "Thanks!"

"No problem." He replied. They walked to the same bridge that Shikamaru had been at earlier that day, leaning over the railing, and staring at the blackened water, reflecting the light of the stars and the moon. It was quite a sight, really. There weren't any lights here to ruin it, either.

"Your village is great. Our village is a wasteland compared to this, with all the sandstorms we get and stuff. No calm, beautiful nights like this."

"That so...?" He replied looking at the water, thinking about the same question that he had been thinking about this morning. _What is it...?_

"Hey! You alright, there?" She said with a smirk on her face, waving her hand in front of his face. Without thinking about what he was doing - this was the girl that he liked, after all - he did what he usually did when someone did this and reached out his own hand - the one that wasn't holding his now bare popsicle stick - and grabbed her hand to stop her from waving it in front of his face. Then, realizing what he had done, he turned beat red all over again and immediately let go, shoving his hand in his pocket.

She laughed at this of course. "Hey, what'd you let go for?" She said, teasing him. She moved closer to him; close enough for their shoulders to touch eachother. Despite the fact that he was still blushing so much that his face was practically _glowing _red, he relaxed and pulled his hand out of his pocket, resting both arms on the railing and continuing to look down at the water.

"Well, it's probably about 11:00 or so, by now. My brothers will be looking for me soon."

"Man I'd hate to have those two looking for me, they're creepy." They both laughed.

"Yeah, but you learn to live with them. You should hear them argue sometime, you _sooo _wouldn't be afraid of them anymore." She cupped her hand over her mouth and mimicked Kankurou arguing with Gaara. "No, the wind should be blowing in _that _direction!" She pointed forward to emphasize her point. They laughed some more.

"Are you serious? They really fight about stuff like that?" Shikamaru asked after they had stopped laughing. His face was still red, but instead of blushing, it was red from laughing.

"One hundred percent serious!"

"Man, I'd love to see that!" He laughed, thinking about it.

"Hey, thanks for a great night. It's so boring at my place, I wasn't sure how the festival would be. I usually don't like going to these things, but I figured it would be more interesting than staying at home." She smiled and turned around and stood up off the rail to face him. He did the same.

"Yeah, same here." He smiled.

Moving her hand near his face, she used one finger to hold up his chin - he was a few inches shorter than her, so this was neccasary - and kissed him on the lips. It only lasted a few seconds, but of course, Shikamaru turned red. She pulled away from him and smirked.

"It's so easy to get you to blush! But you didn't kiss back! Oh, well..." She poked him between his eyes which were as big as an owl's eyes at the moment. There was a noise like someone yelling for a second, and then:

"That must be my brothers. I'll see you later!" She smiled and started to turn around, but Shikamaru stopped her. Grabbing her hand and standing on his toes so he could reach, he kissed her back. _Man, I don't care what makes me like her! This is great!_

After a few seconds of this, he pulled away and said, "No comlaining, now. I kissed you back." She smirked and then ran off to find her brothers. Shikamaru just stood staring after her in the moonlight. Then, hearing a soft snickering from behind him, he turned around to see none other than Chouji staring from behind a garbage can. He walked over, and through his popsicle stick on Chouji's head.

"Oops, I missed." He said, reffering to the garbage can as Chouji tryed to get the sticky thing out of his hair. "How long were you there?" Shikamaru asked, obviously ticked off.

"A while...but that's beside the point!" He said, trying to change the subject. "How was it?" He asked, grinning the same cheeky grin.

Shikamaru smacked him on the head and walked off. "It was _great_...very interesting." He smiled. From this point on throughout the rest of the night, he would be completely oblivious to anything Chouji - or anybody for that matter - said. He licked his lips. _Mmmm...her lips taste like cherries..._


End file.
